Communism, irrespective of the various versions, mutations and distortions it has undergone, has religiously followed one of its founding tenets- the belief that concepts such as god and nation are conspiratorial lies to subjugate the masses. Time and again, its progenies have demonstrated that acting in the best interest of the nation is too much to ask of them.
Apart from ideological incompatibility to parliamentary democracy, perhaps this too was a factor which prompted our founding fathers like Ambedkar to show reluctance at the prospect of communist parties functioning in independent India. No heed was paid to their call, and today we have snakes in our midst.
In no other country does one come across legitimate political organisations that openly and actively work against the country’s interest, perpetually acting and advocating suicidal moves which would set in motion a self-destruct sequence. Sections of the media and the intelligentsia often ape their shenanigans, turning themselves into India’s foremost liabilities.
The latest salvo launched by the communists is a call to restart dialogue with Pakistan. This is contrary to the stand India has taken against its terrorist neighbor, choosing instead to inflict on it an enhanced variant of what it inflicts on us.
The communist stand lacks maturity, putting on display asinine romance and a total ignorance of strategic implications. If history and ground reality are any indication, the only full-proof way India can take care of the menace that is Pakistan, is to facilitate its implosion.
This is why a government that endorses freedom movements across territories that Pakistan occupies, that isolates Pakistan on every international forum, that is willing to use every mean at its disposal to cripple Pakistan’s economy, and that conducts surgical strikes to bump off Paki terrorists, is an asset for the country. A party that stands with students who are anti-India, that goes knocking on the doors of separatists only to receive a cold shoulder and cause embarrassment to India, and that advocates the resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, is a liability.
But the communists ’ problem is not that they lack self-respect or that they dwell in intellectual shallowness. These are problems too, but the essential problem is that their affinity lies not with India but with some other entity. Considering how the world has rejected this movement and how its few remaining centres are steadily fading into oblivion, it is hard to determine what that other entity might be. Suffice to say it is not India.
During India’s freedom struggle, the Communists sided with the British. After India attained freedom, their domestic agenda was set by their Chinese and Soviet counterparts. Today when India is facilitating the implosion of its biggest menace, they are attempting to deviate our concerted operation from its course.
The way they have gone about since the days of the Raj right until today, isn’t merely an indication that their affinity does not lie with India. What is disturbing is that it lies with anyone but India.
The existence of such elements serves to show the shortcomings of parliamentary democracy. The prospect of their ideology and psyche shaping Indian policy is petrifying; we have been fortunate enough never to have indulged them with that kind of influence.
The pockets they have controlled on occasion are each cases in point to demonstrate their true colours. The sixty thousand registered political murders in the state of West Bengal, and the countless unregistered ones, elucidate that the communists are indeed the descendants of Stalin and Pol Pot. Kerala is fast taking after Bengal, with political opponents being slaughtered on a daily basis.
Though their record of governance isn’t connected to their dubious stands on foreign policy, it is proof that the communists give just as much a damn about Indian life as they do about Indian interests.
Whatever it is that goes through their minds when they choose to stand with those who profess Bharat Ki Barbaadi and when they choose to take walks to Geelani’s house and make offers which are beyond their jurisdiction, or when they attempt to derail the country’s moves to corner an enemy which seeks its destruction and go about murdering people who disagree with them, is unhealthy for India.
If their moves were products of desperation to remain relevant in a world which has rejected them outright and refuses to pump new blood into this moronic and violent futility, at least they would be explicable. This seems to be the case with their foe-turned-friend-turned-foe-turned-friend the Congress Party, which has reaped insult on the military and used terms such as khoon ki dalaali.
But their political stock having plummeted to depths of no return doesn’t seem to be the reason they act in a way that constantly undermines India. The truth is that they have always acted this way, irrespective of their political successes and failures.
The communists being reduced politically election after election, is perhaps the best thing that can happen to India. But it is not enough. The purge will be complete only when they have dwindled to an extent which allows the government to ignore them in politically correct ‘all-party activities’, and the media and intelligentsia to consider them as fringe elements whose ideals aren’t imitation-worthy.